RAMAPO INDIAN HILLS 

REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT 

Maximizing opportunities to meet the needs of all students for a meaningful life

January 30, 2022

Pictured are Mrs. Basilicato, Principal Travis Smith, and District Health, Physical Education, and Art Supervisor Rich Burton

It is with great enthusiasm that I share with all of you that Mrs. Karli Basilicato has been recognized as the recipient of the prestigious 2022 SHAPE NJ Health Education Teacher of the Year Award by the Society of Health and Physical Educators of New Jersey. Ms. Basilicato has served Ramapo High School since 2008 as a dedicated teacher, teacher leader, and liaison for health and wellness as she has distinguished herself to a standard of excellence in education to promote healthy, active lifestyles for our students. Mr. Rich Burton, District Supervisor of Health, Physical Education, and Art Supervisor, stated, "This award truly recognizes and encapsulates Karli's years of dedicated service to Ramapo High School and symbolizes her unheralded mission and daily efforts in helping our Ramapo HPE team develop, process, and deliver high-quality educational experiences for all our health students." Please join us in congratulating Mrs. Basilicato on this tremendous accomplishment!

All my best,

Dr. Rui Dionisio

Superintendent of Schools

World Language & English Language Learners

On Monday, January 24, 2022, the Spanish 3 Honors classes hosted the ELL students to help the classes practice their English and Spanish interpersonal speaking skills. Not only did the students engage in themed dialogues, but they also played board games like Parchís. This interdisciplinary lesson was a fantastic opportunity for the students to get to know each other and foster their interpersonal speaking skills. 

DECA District Competition

CONGRATULATIONS to the DECA Members for their outstanding work at our recent district competition!  This talented group of students has the opportunity to compete at the state level in February 2022! These students have worked hard and we are proud of their accomplishments!

Gale Fanale, Advisor

RIH DECA

North Jersey Region 1 Honors Band

We share with you the incredible successes of some of our band students who recently auditioned for NJ’s top-notch honors bands. The audition for AREA Band was early December, North Jersey Region I Band early January, and All-State band this past Saturday. The AREA Band concert has been postponed due to Covid. The Region Band Concert is this Sunday 1/31 at Parsippany Hills High School. The All-State concert is scheduled for 2/26 at NJPAC Newark

Please join us in congratulating some of our extremely talented musicians:

Westin Jekic - alto saxophone: AREA band

Jaden Mayer - Costa-euphonium: AREA Band, North Jersey Region I Band (Symphonic Band) and All-State Band (Symphonic Band)

Yerim Park - clarinet: AREA Band, North Jersey Region I Band (Wind Ensemble) and All-State Band (WindEnsemble) and All-State Orchestra

I couldn’t be any more proud the be the IH Band director and help musically guide these and all the students!

This band is the best of the best of NJ’s northern 7 counties! On to Allstate 1/22! Good luck!!

Mark Friedman

Indian Hills HS Band director

Ramapo HS Pop and Rock

Ramapo HS Jazz Band Director

Careers in Science

Emma Pontes, will be Zooming in as a guest speaker on Wednesday, February 2, 2022 during period 6. Ms. Lauren Winslow has created an opportunity for her students to connect to the world of science in action with career potential. Ms. Pontes will speak to finding a major, working as a research scientist, and careers in various science fields including biology, chemistry, research, and climate science.  

Biography: Ms. Pontes has a B.S. in Marine Science and Biology, Minor in Chemistry, and M.P.S. (Master of Professional Science) in Tropical Marine Ecosystems. She spent several years as an active scientist with NOAA, as well as directly in the UMiami labs in the Ocean Acidification labs under Dr. Chris Langdon. Ms. Pontes is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Marine and Ecology at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami. Her primary interest for her Ph.D. is in Climate Change, specifically Hypoxia on Coral Reefs. 

We are looking forward to the FLOW Music Festivals in February…Orchestra, Choir, and Band across the district!

Indian Hills Sports and Activities

Indian Hills Girls Basketball 'Be Brave' Fundraiser

In 2013 Julie Haledjian Buccino set about to plan a fundraiser at Indian Hills High School. The varsity girls’ basketball coach designed “Be Brave” shirts – a take on the school’s teams known as “The Braves” – for Breast Cancer Awareness month with sales from each shirt supporting The Valley Hospital Breast Cancer Program. Eight years later, the t-shirt sale has become a beloved annual fundraiser for both the team and the community. This year the girls and coaches of Indian Hills basketball once again committed to fundraising for Valley, selling over 300 shirts and making a generous $500 donation, bringing their cumulative giving to more than $4,000. 

Winter Sports Update

Girls Basketball wins the Holiday Tournament and Coach Buccino gets her 100th win December 28th! The IH Girls Basketball team was the champions in the William Masopust Jr. Holiday Class at Lodi High School. Carly Spinella and Gia White were named to the All-Tournament Team. Kathleen DiFalco won the North Jersey Girls Basketball Player of the Week for the week of January 3-9th.  Valley Hospital Featured the Girls Basketball team in their January newsletter in honor of our Be Brave Sale raising $4,000 over the last 9 years and the article is posted on the school website. The Girls are seeded in the Bergen Invitational and play our first game 1-30-22

Wrestling team had a great showing at the cutter classic with 5 wrestlers taking home a medal. Dimitri Rainey and   Nicholas Nucifora were 1st, Dylan Asgarian and weaver took home a 2nd and Christian Kovalick took home a 4th. They have had some impressive wins in this last month beating Cliffside, Vernon, Waldwick, Tenafly, and Ramapo. Winning 5 in a row before dropping a tough match to Paramus. They are currently 8-5.

Boys Basketball has already exceeded their win total from last year in the first month of the season. They are hoping to get healthy so they can get back on track and qualify for States. They also qualified for the Bergen Invitational which begins in February.  

Boys and Girls Bowling are off to a great start. The girls have already begun to show league dominance with the boys right behind them. They just completed the Individual County tournament where we had some impressive finishes by Allie with a 181, Haley who came in tenth overall averaging 200 and a high of 242.

Our Track Team had a 5th place finish in the Big North Championship. We also had some outstanding individual performances. Both teams are getting ready for the State Sectionals.

Boys Fencing congratulations to Jaeden Orsini for earning a bronze at Districts and qualifying for the State Championship. Girls Fencing Jia Chen won the County in Foil and Kayla Shaw took silver.

Swim is poised to do really well in the County Championships on 1-30-22. Boys are currently 5-3 and the Girls are 7-1 and looking to show how they can compete both individually and as a team. 

Ice Hockey is heating up winning a great game vs West Milford 4-2 on 1-29-22. They have three wins along with 2 ties and a few very close losses. Their record is not a good representation of the great hockey they are playing. They are getting healthy and are starting to play the way we believed they could.

Thank you to our Girls Cheer program. They have been amazing by supporting our basketball teams at every game. Also, a  big thank you to the RIH dance team for performing at our games.

Ramapo Sports and Activities

White Out Game Honoring Coach Gibbs - Next Thursday, February 3rd, our Boys Basketball team hosts Ridgewood High School at 7 pm. That night we will be having a "White Out" game. All spectators will receive a white t-shirt as we will honor Coach Drew Gibbs. We want to fill the gym that evening to show our support to the Gibbs family and our Ramapo community as a whole. This should be a really great night that we are all very much looking forward to. Thanks for your support, as always!

Winter Sports Update

Track at the 114th running of the Millrose Games at the New Balance Track and Field Center in NYC, the 4x400 relay team of Julia Wowkun, Carly Griffin, Kendall Schmidt, and Izzie Anzaldo ran a season-best time of 4:03.73 for 3rd place, earning the first set of Millrose Games medals in school history and possibly the first for any Bergen County High School. Only a half-hour later, the 4x800 relay team of Brianna Braver, Bianca Wertheimer, Carly Griffin, and Julia Wowkun ran a season-best time of 9:32.04 for 6th place, the best finish ever in that event for Ramapo at the Millrose Games and currently the #10 time in the US.

Girl’s Basketball earned the number 2 seed in the upcoming Bergen County Tournament. They are currently ranked as the number #5 team in the State with a 12-0 record.

Boy’s Basketball earned the number 3 seed in the upcoming Bergen County Jamboree. Their record stands at 11-3.

Bowling PJ Kerrigan (11) will represent the bowling team at this week’s Bergen County Tournament.

Ice Hockey team moved to 13-6-1 with a touch 4-3 win over Mahwah. Jackson Lont (10) scored the game-winner with 2:50 remaining and Matt Carlson (11) had 32 saves in net.

Swimming at last Sunday’s meet against Tenafly High School, Warren Hzu (9) won the 400-meter freestyle and Gabby Gallucci (12) won the 200 intermediate medley and the 100 fly. The relay team of Carson Levy (12), Carli Silverman (11), Gabby Gallucci (12), and Anna Wezner (10) won both the 200 medley relay and the 400 free relay.

Wrestling at the Bergen County Tournament Stefano Bruni (12) garnered 3rd place at 138 lbs and Zak Darwish (9) took 8th at 175 lbs.

Girls Fencing NJSIAA-District Results

District Champions Overall Team - Qualifies for State Team Tournament

2nd place foil squad - Qualifies for State Squad Championships

3rd place epee squad - Qualifies for State Squad Championships

4th place saber squad - Waiting for a wildcard birth

Individuals Qualify for State Individual Tournament:

Lia DiLisio 2nd place individual epee

Noor Jepsen 6th place individual epee 

Our Boys Fencing won the Districts as well!

Fall Sports Highlights

Volleyball Season Summary - The Varsity Girls Volleyball team finished the year 12-8. Senior captain Caroline Thoma earned 1st team All-League and 3rd team All-County. Senior captain Melina Tsapatsaris earned 2nd team All-League honors. Seniors Jocelyn Juba and Audry Roughgarden both played extremely well for their first varsity season. Junior Carli Silver 1st team All-League honors and Victoria Somppi earned All-League.  

Cross Country - Girls XC had a strong season with the girls team finishing 3rd in the league, 2nd in the County Group meet, and 5th at the State Sectional Meet. The team qualified for the Bergen Meet of Champions for the second year in a row and the State Group Meet for the 4th year in a row. The team was led by seniors Natalie Jackson, Bianca Wertheimer, Maddy Pinney, Emma DePersis, and Izzie Anzaldo. Juniors Brianna Braver (1st team All-League and County) and Carly Griffin (3rd team All-County) helped to round out the team's strong showing.

Boys XC also finished the season strong with top 5 finishes in all of our invitational meets and strong showings in the County and State Sectional Meets. Senior Alex Horgan had a stellar season being named 1st team All- League and 2nd team All-County. The other seniors on the team were Will Walloga, Steven Feehan, Drew Messineo, Nate Somppi, Joey Carollo, and Nick Rensel.

Masking & Public Health Update

January 22, 2022

Ensuring the health and safety of our students, staff, and school visitors is our top priority as we continue to meet the challenges presented by COVID-19. All individuals that visit our school for business purposes, parent conferences, extra-curricular activities, and Board of Education meetings are required to wear a face covering as per Executive Order No. 281 and practice physical distancing. All in-person meetings must allow participants to physically distance themselves from each other. Read more here.

Shortened Recommended Isolation and Quarantine Periods

January 14, 2022

On Thursday, January 6th, 2022 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released updated guidance for COVID-19 prevention in schools which shortens the recommended isolation and quarantine periods for COVID-19 positive individuals and close contacts. On January 12th, the New Jersey Department of Health released COVID-19 public health recommendations for local health departments for K-12 schools. Read more here.

The Ramapo Indian Hills Board of Education recently implemented a new video streaming platform on our District webpage. RIH Board of Education meetings may be viewed directly on our District website by clicking HERE or at the following link: https://tinyurl.com/RIHBOELivestream

Archived Board of Education videos may be accessed at the following link. Additional information is available on the District webpage under the Board of Ed tab at the top of the page.

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